Before we jump head long into Burns the poet or Burns
the man, I feel it is necessary to give consideration to some of the
events that took place prior to and during his lifetime. Time does not
permit the opportunity to go into great detail of these events, and
neither can we touch on all of them, but a thumbnail sketch of some of the
more important ones will, I hope, whet your appetite for further
independent study as your time and interest allow.

Some of these events transpired in the fifty years or
so prior to Burns birth: the Presbyterian Church of Scotland became "the"
church for the country. (The Kirk publicly disciplined Burns, and it had a
profound effect on him the rest of his life. Read "Holy Willie’s Prayer"
considered by Burns to initially be unprintable. Burns scholar Kenneth
Simpson says it is "the most powerful indictment in world literature of
bigotry and hypocrisy". Follow up by reviewing "The Twa Herds" and "The
Ordination" to catch a glimpse of how all of this affected his
relationship and views on the Kirk.) Next, Scotland’s independence as a
nation ceased with the 1707 Union with England. (The Earl of Seafield
called it "the end of an auld sang", but in 1715 the first rebellion, or
"Rising" as some prefer to call it, came and went like a mere flicker in
the night.

A few years later witchcraft executions were halted.
(James Mackay writes that Betty Davidson, who lived with the Burns family,
"kept the children amused and spellbound with what Robert was later to
describe as ‘the largest collection in the country of tales and songs
concerning devils, ghosts, fairies, brownies, witches…and other
trumpery’.") [Note: Mackay is another Burns scholar you will want to
become immediately acquainted with as you study Burns.] Burns’ "Halloween"
is another good source. Then in the mid-1720s, Allan Ramsay came on the
scene with his poetry that greatly influenced Burns. David Daiches dares
to write "the movement of Scots poetry in the eighteenth century is from a
Ramsay to a Burns" which, I believe, history has proven to be true.

Once again "the end of an auld sang" reared its ugly
head for the last stanza with the 1745 Rising led by Bonnie Prince
Charlie. Culloden put an end to the Stuarts quest to regain the thrones of
Scotland and England. Scottish scholar Duncan Bruce stated in an interview
with me sometime back that "Culloden just hastened the end of the clans.
The clan system was outmoded and near collapse when Charlie came, I
believe". Burns later wrote: "The injured Stewart line is gone, / A race
outlandish fills their throne; / An idiot race, to honour lost - / Who
knows them best despise them most". See his "Fareweel to a’ our Scottish
Fame" where he said, "I’ll mak this declaration: / ‘We’re bought and sold
for English gold’ - / Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!" Yet Burns,
like many, only flirted at being a Jacobite intellectually. Also see
"Charlie, He’s My Darling / My darling, my darling / Charlie, he’s my
darling - / The Young Chevalier!"

Robert Burns was born in 1759.

MacKay points out that Session clerk David Tennant "laconically noted the
details in his parish register: ‘Robert Burns, lawful son of William
Burns, in Alloway, and Agnes Brown, his spouse, was born January 25, 1759;
bapd. 26, by Mr William Dalrymple. Witnesses: John Tennant and Jas.
Young’."

Continuing with background information: as the poems of
Robert Fergusson came to Edinburgh, Burns became a lover of everything he
wrote. Yet, Fergusson "was not patronized and petted by the literata" as
Burns later was. America made an announcement to the world on a piece of
paper called the Declaration of Independence in 1776 (See "Ode For General
Washington’s Birthday"), and the results of that war of liberation are
well known and documented. Then by the mid-1780s, the poems began to
really flow from the young poet’s hand: "Holy Willie’s Prayer", "To A
Louse", "To A Mouse", "The Cotter’s Saturday Night", "The Twa Dogs" and
"Address to the Deil", among others.

1786 saw the Kilmarnock Edition of Burns’ poems
published, and his plans to leave the country for Jamaica were put aside
permanently. (It is mentioned in the Autumn 2002 issue of Burns
Chronicle, a Robert Burns World Federation publication that you need
to know about, that one of the Kilmarnock editions recently sold for
£20,000 in London, a record price in the United Kingdom. In 1996 a copy
sold for $36,000 in America. So, be careful what you throw out of your
Scottish grandfather’s attic! Or, if you have an elderly Scottish neighbor,
you might want to be a little nicer or even offer to cut his grass.)

Burns made his first trip to Edinburgh to see about
publishing another issue of his poems, and a whole new world was opened to
him. For the first time in his life, the scent of money was in the air,
and that scent became a reality when the First and Second Edinburgh
Editions were published. (Enquiring about Robert Fergusson, one author
says that Burns "prostrated himself on the grave of Fergusson and kissed
the sod".Whether he did or not, he asked about "my elder brother
in misfortune, / By far my elder brother in the muse". According to
Mackay, Burns found that young Fergusson lay in an unmarked grave, and he
paid for a marker to eventually be made, a great story for a later date.)
More importantly, Burns now turns his attention to collecting Scottish
songs after meeting James Johnson, a music publisher. This task would
consume him until his death. In his classic book, Robert Burns,
David Daiches writes that at this time Burns "worked less as Robert Burns
than as the embodied spirit of Scottish song".

"Tam O Shanter" was written in 1790 and "Ae Fond Kiss"
in 1791. France experienced the fall of the Bastille, and the world
witnessed the Declaration of the Rights of Man by the French
Assembly, with a little help, I might add, from Thomas Jefferson. The
following year, in 1792, Thomas Mann published his Rights of Man,
another impact on Burns. He begins work for George Thomson’s
Select Collection of Original Airs. Also, 1792 saw the world shocked
and repulsed by the massacres in Paris. The King and Queen of France were
executed in January 1793. There was a new weapon on display in Paris, the
gullitine, which rolledmore than a few heads out into the streets.
The next month England was at war with France. (Burns was investigated
because his pen seemed to align himself with the French, and the threat of
the loss of his job nearly frightened him to death. Burns later joined the
Royal Dumfries Volunteers to affirm and to dispel any doubts regarding
loyalty to his country. Further reading should include "Does Haughty Gaul
Invasion Threat?) Do not overlook the trial of Thomas Muir in Edinburgh
and its implications. The Second Edinburgh Edition is published.
(Interestingly, for me, nine Shaw families were subscribers to the Second
Edition.) Then came a poem from Burns that is a favorite of my fellow
Burnsian Richard Graham, Chieftain to the Clan Graham, called "A Red, Red
Rose".

The song collecting, writing and rewriting continued
over the years and saw "Scots, Wha Hae" published anonymously in 1794,
followed by "For A’ That, An A’ That" in 1795, and in 1796 Burns wrote "O,
Wert Thou in the Cauld Blast". Let’s not forget "Auld Lang Syne", either.
(Magnus Magnusson, called the "smartest man in Britian", says "A Man’s a
Man for A’ That" is "the most internationally reknown of all Robert Burn’s
songs". Far be it from me to disagree with someone of Mr. Magnusson’s
stature, but I’ll cast my vote for "Auld Lang Syne" as international song
of all times!)

Robert Burns dies in 1796.

(Interestingly, Burns wrote on departing a Highland host, "When Death’s
dark stream I ferry o’er / [A time that surely shall come], / In Heaven
itself I’ll ask no more, / Than just a Highland welcome.")

Many books have been written on the above subjects.
Unfortunately, space limits us to this brief sketch. It is up to you to
follow up with trips to the library and bookshops for further reading - and
study. If your local library does not have the book you are looking
for, ask them about their inter-library loan program that allows them to
find book(s) you want from participating libraries throughout the United
States. It may take a little time, but the wait is worth it. Do not be
discouraged, and do not give up. One step at a time will eventually get us
to our destination.

You will do yourself a disservice if you do not find Robert Burns by David Daiches and read the chapter entitled
"The Scottish Literary Tradition". It is 31 pages of background joy on
Burns’ life. Remember this is a self-study for those of us new to Burns or
those who want a refresher course. It is just a little exercise for lay
peoplein Burns 101. There will be nothing new to this
study. After all, what is there left to say or write, surely not much,
that has not already been said about the "heaven-taught ploughman", as
Henry Mackenzie called him in 1787. Yet, as G. Ross Roy says, "any student
of Robert Burns will know that the writing about the poet seems to be
without end…". You will need a good Scots dictionary, and I recommend you
find a copy of Chambers’ The Concise Scots Dictionary (ISBN
0-08-028491-4) for ready reference.

Please continue to write me via email or snail mail,
and let me know how you are doing in your study of Burns - what you like,
what you want more of, what you do not like, what you feel will help you
and me in this task that is a simple labor of love for our
poet, Robert Burns. Some of you have already contacted me, and I can tell
this will be an active and lively group. And, remember, we’ve just begun!
Simply put, your desire to learn about Burns and his poetry will dictate
your level of commitment to this course of study.

If you have or know others who have written articles on
Burns and would like to see them considered for publication in this
column, please let me know. For those who do not have email, my mailing
address is: Frank R. Shaw, 1320 Twelve Oaks Circle, NW, Atlanta, GA,
30327-1862, USA. Also, check us out on
www.electricscotland.com
underThe Family Treemasthead. All of our articles on
Burns, various book reviews, chats with authors, as well as other articles
will be found there. Plus, there is a vast wealth of information on Burns
to be found on electricscotland, compliments of Alastair McIntyre,
Web Site Host. Finally, Robert Burns once said: "I rhyme for fun". I
suggest we follow his advice. Go have fun!

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